Neoliberal Reform In Mexico

Neoliberal reforms effectively decapitated the leftist opposition to the PRI. In response new organizations had to be created to contend with the policies of the PRI. From 1985, civil society organizations became the most important actor in Mexico, as they redefined the ways in which Mexicans of any social or political class could engage with each other and the government to better their own lives and increase their own agency. The creation of these groups was a repudiation of single party rule, the corrupt electoral system and neoliberal reform. By and large, these groups repainted the struggle of the Mexican left as not one of revolution but of one of democracy and solidarity. Where previously the left had simply wanted to replace the PRI …show more content…
Here, the alliances that were emerging spanned huge inequalities between Mexico’s populations. Students in Mexico City marched in support of the same causes as guerillas in the Chihuahua highlands (La Botz, 63). Though these two groups were incredibly different in their position within Mexico, they’re political outlooks were beginning to meld. The alliance between campesinos and students is one formed out of their shared opposition towards the single party authoritarianism of the Mexican government, rising inequality and corruption, and the burden of economic growth. To many in Mexico, it seemed that what outsiders were calling the “Mexican Miracle” helped them little and cost them much (Carr, 48). Both students and campesinos felt that they gave up more than they were gaining as the PRI pushed Mexico towards rapid economic development. Together, campesinos and urban students put together extreme shows of resistance towards the Mexican government. When guerillas in Chihuahua began an armed occupation of the offices of a logging company, students hundreds of miles away in Mexico City would march in the streets to show their support. This alliance became the single greatest threat to the PRI, and for that reason it was violently …show more content…
Both with students and with campesinos, the PRI showed a willingness to carry out extrajudicial killings against the political opposition (Shirk, 70). At times this was carried out secretly, under the dead of night, when guerillas or student leaders could be disappeared in an instant. Other times, it was carried out openly and brazenly. The 1968 Tlatelolco massacre stands out in the history of Mexican single party rule for its senseless brutality. Weeks before the summer Olympics were to take place in Mexico City, over 10,000 university students took to the streets to protest the rising inequality in the country and single party rule. Students marched into the Plaza de Tres Culturas and demanded revolution. In response, the Mexican military fired on the protestors, killing somewhere between 40 and 300 students. Additionally, over 1,000 students were imprisoned (Shirk, 76). The Tlatelolco massacre was a tragedy and one of the low points of Mexican political history. It was a moment in which the PRI demonstrated its vice like grip on the country and the military. Through actions like the Tlatelolco massacre and the campaign of political dissapeearings and suppressions, the PRI was able to quash

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